“Being in the forest can restore our mood.
Give us back our energy & vitality.
Refresh & rejuvenate us.
We know this deep in our bones.”
– Dr. Qing Li, Tokyo’s Nippon Medical School + world’s foremost expert in forest medicine
Natural wellness classes and workshops
Are you ready to connect with nature in a new way?
We can’t wait to meet you!
You can find all of our upcoming classes, special events, retreats and festivals on this page. Any questions, feel free to Contact Us!
Overview of Upcoming Classes & Events:
Community Classes:
To sign up for a community class, simply click “BOOK” and follow the prompts. You can sign up for a single class or purchase a class punch card at check out for reduced rates (learn about our pricing HERE). To sign up for one of our special events, keep scrolling.
Upcoming Special Events:
Guided Shinrin-yoku: Relax & Reconnect in Nature
Thursday, June 11, 6-8pm at Blandford Nature Center, Grand Rapids
Join us as we breathe deep, relax, and explore the beauty of late spring at Blandford Nature Center (BNC)! We’re thrilled to be continuing our monthly Shinrin-yoku inspired programs at BNC, and as always, our program will start with a brief introduction to the background and research of forest bathing, how it differs from a hike, and why it’s internationally recognized as an effective tool for natural stress release. From there, you’ll be guided in a relaxing forest bathing session while exploring the beautiful woods and meadows at Blandford; helping you calm your mind, reconnect to nature, and experience your time outdoors in a new way. We hope you’ll join us as we slow down, find presence, and enjoy the wilderness of BNC through the lens of guided forest bathing!
Program Includes: a sit pad and blanket to use during the program, essential oils for meditation, wild foraged tea and a small snack
General Public Registration: $30
Blandford Members Save 20% and register for $25.60!
Program full and on a waitlist!
Foraged Green Powders Workshop at Gathered Botanicals
Saturday, June 13, 10:30am-12:30pm at Gathered Botanicals, Grand Rapids
Green powder supplements are a great way to boost your energy and nutrition, but the $30 price tag for store bought varieties can be a barrier to including them in your diet. During this workshop – led by Katie and inspired by her love of wild, foraged green powders – you’ll learn how to create your own powders at home using plants harvested from your yard, local forests, and meadows. We’ll begin with a plant identification walk at Highland Park to help you learn how to ID wild plants that work well in green powders, then we’ll walk back to the shop for tea and hands-on instruction, including how to dry and powder your harvests, how to maintain a rolling jar of seasonal greens on your countertop, and more. You’ll also get to create your own 3oz green powder blend to take home and try! We hope you’ll join us to expand your knowledge of Michigan plants and bring healthy green powders into your life.
Registration: $45
Silent Hike & Forest Bathing Experience
Thursday, July 9, 6-8pm at Peace Park, Ada
Join us as we explore a new kind of guided forest bathing experience, hosted in the beauty of Cascade Peace Park! Inspired by a desire to journey deeper into nature together, this offering will allow us to put more space between ourselves and the human soundscape as we immerse ourselves in a 198-acre nature preserve. We’ll connect with an opening community circle, take a silent a guided hike deeper into the forest (with mindfulness prompts to help you stay present), and pause for a guided forest bathing experience with Katie halfway along the trail. During our hike back to the parking lot, you can opt to continue along silently, or you linger toward the back of the group to hike and chat with others, expanding your community and making new friends. We hope you can be there!
Special Rate: $18
(Or use your IYE class pack to join!)
Upcoming Festivals
2026 Great Lakes Foragers Gathering
June 18-21, 2026, Frog Holler Farms in Brooklyn, Michigan
We’re SO excited to be a part of the 15th Great Lakes Foragers Gathering, hosted by Will Forage For Food in the beautiful Irish Hills region of southeast Michigan. This is an epic annual wild food weekend that we look forward to every year, with an abundance of classes on offer, hands-on learning, wild foraged food at every meal (meals included in your event ticket), and time to make your foraging friends. At this year’s gathering, our guide Katie will be leading a Mindfulness for Foragers session, where we’ll be exploring the natural connection we all feel outside and discussing some new perspectives and simple mindfulness techniques to help you expand your foraging skillset, enhance your habitat recognition, and deepen your connection to your food. Whether you are new to foraging or are a seasoned harvester, this is THE Michigan-based event to level-up your foraging knowledge. We can’t recommend it highly enough and we hope to see you there!
2026 Wild Zen Yoga Festival
July 17-19, 2026, Smiling Acres Festival Grounds, Trufant, MI
We’re excited to join the Wild Zen Yoga Fest for the FIFTH year in a row! At the 2026 fest, our guide Katie will be leading a nature therapy experience centered around the festival’s ever-growing and changing community nature mandala. This is a wonderful and intimate festival, with a great community, beautiful nature, and a diverse schedule of offerings to help you explore not just yoga, but breathwork, cacao, mindful movement, sound, and more. Head to the Wild Zen Yoga page HERE to learn more and grab your ticket! We’d love to see you there!
Upcoming Retreats
Stay tuned for upcoming retreats!
Our Credentials
We’ll see you in the forest!